BOSTON \u2014 Eight hits, two homers and three runs qualified as an offensive outburst for a Boston Red Sox club that has struggled mightily to score at home this season.<\/p>\n
The Boston offense has been so anemic that, entering Wednesday, it had scored three or fewer runs in 12 of its last 15 home games.<\/p>\n
Three runs were just enough Wednesday, as Trevor Story hit a solo shot, his first homer since April 15, and Ceddanne Rafaela crushed a two-run, pinch hit homer to push the Red Sox past the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1. Throughout the season, reading too much into any one solid offensive night has led to disappointment the next.<\/p>\n
As the Red Sox have floundered on offense through 42 games, their pitching has kept them from completely bottoming out.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite what we\u2019ve gone through and are going through offensively, we still look up in the sixth (and) seventh, and we\u2019re right in the game with a chance to win, and that\u2019s a credit to the way we\u2019ve pitched,\u201d interim manager Chad Tracy said.<\/p>\n
Wednesday, Sonny Gray was the latest starter to buoy the club.<\/p>\n
In his second start since spending 15 days on the injured list with a hamstring strain, Gray held the Phillies to one run on two hits (one homer) and a walk, striking out a season-high six batters over six innings. Gray cruised, allowing a homer in the third and a single in the sixth.<\/p>\n
Though he has prided himself on his back-to-back 200-strikeout seasons, his strikeout rate in 2026 has been down. Wednesday, he struck out five of the first 12 batters he faced, and he believes he\u2019s trending in the right direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like I left three (strikeouts) out there,\u201d Gray said. \u201cBut to have one an inning, at least, feels more normal. Something that I\u2019ve honestly been kind of digging into a little bit because I strike people out and I haven\u2019t been. So, just trying to find a \u2018why\u2019 for that, and (I) think I\u2019m getting closer.\u201d<\/p>\n
In May, Red Sox pitchers rank second in the American League with a 2.61 ERA. They have allowed three earned runs or fewer in 11 of their last 16 games, with Gray, Brayan Bello, Connelly Early and Payton Tolle doing so twice in that stretch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think pitching is contagious,\u201d Gray said. \u201cI think hitting is contagious. I think winning is contagious. So, I\u2019ve enjoyed watching our staff, and there\u2019s zero part of me that feels complacent or that feels that we\u2019re there. I feel like when you start to feel that way, it\u2019ll come up and find you. I feel we have a good staff, and I feel like you can definitely build off of one another. We\u2019re just going to continue to push forward because I think we could still get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much of this success on the pitching side has come without ace Garrett Crochet, who has been sidelined since April 26 with left shoulder inflammation. Wednesday, the Red Sox received some good news on Crochet: He threw a 20-pitch bullpen, the first time he has pitched off a mound in the last three weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, touching the mound is always a good step,\u201d Crochet said. \u201cGotta keep building. It\u2019s taking a little bit longer than I had originally hoped, but today was a good day.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll throw a bullpen this weekend, when he\u2019ll simulate throwing two innings. That will be followed by facing hitters in a live batting practice session. Like Gray, he\u2019s hoping to avoid making a minor-league rehab start.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs of right now, I don\u2019t intend on taking one,\u201d he said, noting it\u2019s not entirely his decision and that he\u2019ll listen to the medical staff. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to win games, so I\u2019d rather not waste innings on a rehab assignment when I feel like I can contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n
He hopes to return as soon as possible, even if he\u2019s only able to throw three or four innings in his return start.<\/p>\n
Over the past few weeks, Crochet has been doing various shoulder-strengthening exercises, with shoulder stability and rotator cuff strength as the focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels a lot better,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was weird, kind of just bad mechanics led to compromising my shoulder. So it\u2019s a mix of the two right now, trying to clean up my mechanics while also getting the shoulder back to feeling good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crochet plans to join the club on the upcoming trip to Atlanta and Kansas City to continue his rehab, remain with the medical staff and offer support to his teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important to stay kind of just in lockstep with the team and where they\u2019re at mentally, showing face and being positive,\u201d Crochet said. \u201cYou can always use a positive face and voice in the dugout. That\u2019s kind of my role right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 Eight hits, two homers and three runs qualified as an offensive outburst for a Boston Red…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":795984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1281,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-795983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-boston-red-sox","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116573378159470689","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}